Method and device for creating two or more deactivated portions on touch screen

ABSTRACT

For a touch screen device, creates two deactivated portions and positions the two deactivated portions on two edges of the touch screen respectively so that an user can hold the device comfortably by resting the thumbs on the two deactivated portions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This disclosure generally relates to a method for touch screen devicesand, particularly, to a method for deactivating a portion of a touchscreen of a touch screen device such that a user thereof can hold thedevice firmly and conformably by resting the thumb on the deactivatedportion, without accidentally activating the touch screen, and a touchscreen device employing the method.

2. Description of Related Art

Touch screen devices, such as tablet computers and smartphones, areubiquitous nowadays. Device makers are trying to make the touch screenon the device larger and larger while providing ever-shrinking edgessurrounding the touch screen, in attempts to please customers by makethe device more aesthetically appealing. However, for such computingdevices, more often than not, a user needs to hold the device by usingone hand to hold one side of the tablet computer, or two hands to holdtwo opposite sides of the tablet computer in using them. A problemensues. If the edges surrounding the touch screen is too narrow, thethumb of a holding hand would have to go beyond the edge of the sideonto the touch screen, for the user to comfortably hold the tabletcomputer, and if there are touch-sensitive areas, such as icons ofapplications or hyperlinks adjacent to the edge, the thumb couldaccidently activate such touch-sensitive areas, thus disturbing what iscurrently going on with the device.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a new touch screen that auser can comfortably and firmly hold, yet avoid unwanted activation of afunction on the touch screen.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for deactivating a portion of a touch screen is provided. Whena designated touch-sensitive area is touched for certain duration oftime, or certain signal is received, a portion on the touch screen whichcovers the point of the touch and the surrounding area will bedeactivated, such that a user can hold the device by resting his thumbon the deactivated portion and any other touch-sensitive areas coveredby the deactivated portion will not be accidentally activated by theholding hand. The deactivated portion can be located adjacent to an edgeof the touch screen such that the device would be easier to be hold by ahuman hand without accidentally triggering other touch-sensitive areascovered by the deactivated portion.

A device implementing this method is also provided. The device includesa touch screen which defines a designated touch-sensitive area to betouched to trigger the deactivation of a portion covering the point ofthe touch. The device also includes a signal receiving module to sensethe touch and a processor module to render the deactivated portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The foregoing and other exemplary purposes, aspects and advantages ofthe present invention will be better understood in principle from thefollowing detailed description of one or more exemplary embodiments ofthe invention with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1, a schematic view, shows an exemplary embodiment of a device withtouch screen held by a human hand and a deactivated portion of the touchscreen;

FIG. 2, a schematic view similar to FIG. 1, shows designatedtouch-sensitive areas defined on the touch screen of the device of FIG.1 for triggering the deactivated portion;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the device of FIG. 1 with thedeactivated portion rendered in another use situation, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 4, a block diagram, shows an exemplary embodiment of functionalblocks of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5, a schematic view, shows different embodiments in which adeactivated portion is generated, canceled and moved;

FIG. 6, a schematic view, shows cloning the deactivated portion andmoving the cloned deactivated portion, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart describing a method for triggering and cancellingthe deactivated portion on the touch screen of the device of FIG. 1, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8, another flowchart, showing a method for triggering andcancelling the deactivated portion in another situation, according toanother embodiment;

FIG. 9, a flowchart, illustrates an exemplary process of cloning adeactivated and moving a deactivated portion;

FIG. 10, a flowchart, illustrates a general process to render thedeactivated portion on an edge of the touch screen of the device of FIG.1, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process in which, according to anembodiment, the device of FIG. 1 works while the deactivated portion isin use; and

FIG. 12, another flowchart, shows how the device of FIG. 1 treats atouch signal from the touch screen, in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described in detail through severalembodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a device 100 with a touch screen 108 isdemonstrated. On the touch screen 108, a number of touch-sensitive icons106 are defined and displayed; each of them can be touched to trigger acorresponding function. A user of the device 100 may use his hand 10 tohold the device 10 from an edge thereof. To hold the device 100comfortably, the thumb of the hand 10, or one of the phalanges of thethumb, may have to touch the touch screen 108, especially when edges 102of the device 100 are close to edges 104 of the touch screen 108. Toavoid accidental activations of those icons 106 adjacent to the edge 104where the hand 10 holds the device 100, a deactivated portion 110 on thetouch screen 108 is rendered to cover the area where the hand 10 touchesthe touch screen 108. In one embodiment, the deactivated portion 110 maybe semi-transparent, or transparent to see through the content under thedeactivated portion 104. The deactivated portion 110 can be visible tothe user either by its opacity or having a visible border such that theuser can easily figure out where it is in order to rest his thumb on it.

Referring to FIG. 2, designated touch-sensitive areas 112 can berendered on the touch screen 108 to be used to triggering the renderingof the deactivated portion 110. In the embodiment depicted by FIG. 2,the touch-sensitive areas 112 are elongated rectangular areas locatedbetween the edges 104 of the touch screen 108 and the icons 106 that areclose or the closest to the edges 104. The touch-sensitive areas 112could be transparent or semi-transparent such that the contents underthe touch-sensitive area 112 can be seen.

As shown in FIG. 4, in one embodiment, the device 100 includes the touchscreen 108, a processor module 201 connected to and controlling thetouch screen 108, and a signal receiving module 203 connected to boththe touch screen 108 and the processor module 201. When an object, suchas a human thumb, touches one of the designated touch-sensitive areas112, the designated touch-sensitive area 112 senses the touch. Here, thetouch can be a gesture of touching and holding for a certain period oftime, or a tap, or a tap with certain period of time of touching one ofthe designated touch-sensitive areas 112. The signal receiving module203 receives a touch signal from the designated touch sensitive area112, and transfers the signal to the processor module 201. The processormodule 201 processes the signal and controls the touch screen 108 torender the deactivated portion 110 on the touch screen covering thepoint of the touch, or an area of the touch, where the touching objectcontacts the touch screen 108. In one embodiment, the processor module201 determines whether the touch has reached a predetermined period oftime to be a deactivation signal, or a first signal, required to triggerthe rendering of the deactivated portion 110. The processor module caninclude a processor 2011 and various control modules controlled by theprocessor 2011 and known in the art and suitable for controlling a touchscreen that are not described here in detail. The processor 2011 may bean x86 CPU, an ARM chip, or any other processor suitable for being usedto control the touch screen 108 via the various controls modules thatmay be either hardware or software modules, as known at the time of thisinvention.

The device 100 may further have a storage unit 205, as shown in FIG. 4,connected to and accessed by the processor module 201, to store variousparameters used in rendering the deactivated portion 110. The parametersmay include a first period of time 2051, a second period of time 2052.When one of the designated touch-sensitive areas 112 has been touched ata point of the touch 114 by the hand 10 as shown in FIG. 3 for period oftime equal to or longer than the first period 2051, the period of touchis sensed, together with the touch signal by the signal receiving module203, and the processor module 201 will determine that the touch signalis the first signal (deactivation signal) meant for requesting for adeactivated portion 110, and will control the touch screen 108 to renderthe deactivated portion 110 covering the point of the touch 114. As longas the deactivated portion 110 is being touched, e.g., by the hand 10 ofthe user pressing and holding the deactivated portion 110, the processormodule 201 will control the touch screen 108 to maintain the deactivatedportion 110 on the touch screen 108.

While the deactivated portion 110 is being displayed on the touch screen108, and has no longer been touched for a period of time equal to orlonger than the second period 2052, in other words, the deactivatedportion 110 is no longer being used by the user to hold the device 100,the processor module 201 will treat this situation as that thedeactivated portion 110 is no longer needed, and therefore cancel thedeactivated portion 110 from the touch screen 108.

In another embodiment, the deactivated portion 110 can be generated bythe processor module 201 on the touch screen 108 based on thedeactivation signal (the first signal) to generate such a deactivatedportion 110, together with generation of the whole interface, or othericons 106. This way, there is no need for the user of the device totrigger the rendering of the deactivated portion 110, or the firstsignal is not generated by a touch signal but by a system setting. Theposition or initial position of the deactivated portion 110 can bedetermined by a position parameter 2056 stored in the storage 205, theposition may be “left, middle,” “right, bottom,” here the “right” mayindicate the right edge of the touch screen 108, and “middle” mayindicate the middle portion of the right edge, and so on. The positionparameter 2056 may be input by the user and stored in the storage unit205.

In addition, other parameters about the deactivated portion 110 may alsostored in the storage unit 205 and accessed by the processor module 201.Such as sizes 2053, opacity 2054, and shapes 2055, as shown in FIG. 4.These parameters can be used in rendering the deactivated portion 110 todetermine the look and feel of the deactivated portion 110.

In a situation that one of the designated touch-sensitive areas 112 isclose to or even overlaps a touch-sensitive area, i.e., a hyper link 116as shown in FIG. 3 (or icons 106 in FIG. 1), and a touch point 114 mighttouches both the touch-sensitive area 112 and the touch-sensitive link116. When this happens, the processor module 201 will determine whetherthe touch at the touch pint 114 is meant for triggering the deactivatedportion 110, or triggering the link 116, based on the duration of thetouch. If the duration of the touch is equal to or longer than the firstperiod 2051, the touch signal is the first signal meant for adeactivated portion 110, otherwise, the processor module will determinethat the touch signal is a second signal meant for activating the link116, and perform a function associated with the link 116, in thisspecific case, opening the webpage linked by the link 116. Same thing istrue, in case of a touch-sensitive icon 106, and the processor module201 will perform a function behind the icon if the touch duration isless than the first period 2051.

In yet another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the deactivated portion110 may be triggered by a sliding touch on the touch screen 108. In FIG.5, a sliding touch 1091 in a direction from an edge towards the middleof the touch screen 108 will be treated by the processor module 201 asthe first signal being a trigger to render the deactivated portion 110on the touch screen, and the deactivated portion 110 is positioned onthe edge of the touch screen 108 covering part of the sliding trace thesliding touch 1091, e.g. at least the initial portion of the slidingtouch 1091, as shown in FIG. 5. And once the deactivated portion hasbeen rendered on the touch screen 108, another sliding touch 1092 on thedeactivated portion 110 in a direction from the middle to the edge onthe deactivated portion will be a signal to cancel the deactivatedportion 110 by the processor module 201.

In an embodiment, once the deactivated portion 110 has been displayed onthe touch screen 108, as the one shown on the left in FIG. 5, a touchinggesture such as a holding and dragging one 1093 in FIG. 5 can be used tomove the deactivated portion 110 to another location on the touch screen108. For instance, the sliding touch 1093 can be one that the user usinghis finger first presses and holds the deactivated portion 110 on theleft, then drags the deactivated portion 110 to the lower right edge ofthe touch screen 108 in FIG. 5. This way, the user can position thedeactivated portion 100 wherever he wants to hold the device 100 withone of his thumbs resting on the deactivated portion 110.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the processor 2011 that can execute variouscontrol modules (those known in the arts, and not shown in details hereand in the drawings) for the touch screen 108. For the instantinvention, in one embodiment, the processor module 201 further includesa cloning module 2012 that clones an existing or currently displayeddeactivated portion 110. Referring to FIG. 6, when the deactivatedportion 110 has already been displayed on the touch screen 108, and athumb 11 of the user is currently touching (pressing and holding) thedeactivated portion 110, another object, e.g., a finger 12 of the otherhand of the user, performs a sliding touch 1094 starting from thedeactivated portion 110, in such situation, the signal receiving module203 recognizes the touch pattern, i.e., one pressing and holding touchby the thumb 11, and a concurrent sliding touch 1094 by the finger 12,and sends corresponding signals to the processor module 201, theprocessor 2011 will then treat this combination of pressing and holdingtouch and the sliding touch 1094 as a third signal, and, based on thethird signal, execute the cloning module 2012 to duplicate thedeactivated portion 110 by creating a new deactivated portion 110′ whichis the same as or similar to the deactivated portion 110, e.g., incolor, shape, size, opacity, etc. And furthermore, the processor module201 will move the cloned deactivated portion 110′ on the touch screen108 along the path or trace of the sliding touch 1094 till the end ofthe sliding touch 1094 or to a point of the edges 104 of the touchscreen where the sliding touch 1094 ends. As a result, there will be twoseparate deactivated portions 110 and 110′ on the touch screen 108, andthe user can use two hands to hold the device 100 comfortably, with,likely, the two thumbs respectively resting on the two deactivatedportions 110 and 110′. In another embodiment, this process of cloning adeactivated portion, can be repeated again and again such that there canbe more than two deactivated portions 110 and 110′ on the touch screen108, and cloning can start from the first deactivated portion 110, orfrom a later-cloned deactivated portion 110′, i.e., cloning a cloneddeactivated portion 110′. In an embodiment, based on FIG. 6, during thecreation of the cloned deactivated portion 110′, the deactivated portion110 does not move or remains at its original or the same position, asshown FIG. 6, remaining under the thumb 11.

Referring to FIG. 7, a process of rendering the deactivated portion 110is demonstrated in accordance with an embodiment. The figure, here, aswell as FIGS. 8-12, later, shows only exemplary steps in an embodimentto describe the principles of the method, and the order of the steps isnot necessarily fixed as shown, might be altered, and certain stepsmight be omitted without departing from the principles of the invention.

In step 301, the signal receiving module 203 receives a touch signalfrom the dedicated touch-sensitive area 112. In step 303, the processormodule 201 determines whether the duration of the touch is equal to orlonger than a threshold, e.g., the stored first period 2051. If thedetermination is positive, in step 305, the processor module 201 willtreat the touch signal as the first signal and control the touch screen108 to deactivate a portion of the screen which covers the point of thetouch, e.g. the point of the touch 114 in FIG. 3. After the deactivatedportion 110 has been rendered, and when the touch has gone, the signalreceiving module 203 may sense that there is no touch, and the processormodule 201 will calculate the duration of the non-touching. If, in step307, the duration of the non-touching equals or exceeds a threshold,e.g., the second period 2052, in other words, the user may no longerneed the deactivated portion 110, the processor module will, in step309, control the touch screen to stop displaying the deactivated portion110.

Referring to FIG. 8, together with FIG. 3, in case the point of thetouch 114 is both on the dedicated touch-sensitive area 114 and on theactive link 116 (or an icon 106 of FIG. 2), the processor module 201will determine whether to render the deactivated portion 110, or triggerthe link 116 (or the icon 106) as the user intends to. In step 401, thesignal receiving module 203 receives a touch signal from the dedicatedtouch-sensitive area 112. In step 403, the processor module 201determines whether the duration of the touch is equal to or longer thana threshold, e.g., the stored first period 2051. If the determination isnegative, for example, the duration is less than the first period 2051,the processor module 201 will treat the touch signal as the secondsignal and perform a corresponding function of the link 116, e.g.,opening the website linked by the link 116; however, if thedetermination is positive in step 405, the processor module 201 willcontrol the touch screen 108 to display the deactivated portion 110which covers the point of the touch, e.g. the point of the touch 114 inFIG. 3. After the deactivated portion 110 has been rendered, and whenthe touch has gone, the signal receiving module 203 may sense that thereis no long a touch operation, and the processor module 201 willcalculate the duration of the non-touching. If the duration of thenon-touching equals or exceed a threshold, e.g., the second period 2052in step 409, in other words, the user may no longer need the deactivatedportion 110, in step 411, the processor module will control the touchscreen to stop displaying the deactivated portion 110.

Referring to FIG. 9, together with FIG. 6, when a deactivated portion110 is being displayed on the touch screen 108, a process of generatingthe new deactivated portion 110′ can be achieved as follows. In step501, if the deactivated portion 110 is being touched (pressing andholding), the signal-receiving module 203 will send the touch signal tothe processor module 201, and in step 503, if the sliding touch 1094 isfurther received by the signal receiving module 203 on the deactivatedportion 110, the processor 2011 will treat the combination of thepressing and holding touch and the sliding touch 1094 as the thirdsignal and, in step 505, controls the cloning module 2012 to duplicatethe deactivated portion 110 such that a new deactivated portion 110′ iscreated and moves the new deactivated portion 110′ along the trace ofthe sliding touch 1093.

An deactivation signal for deactivating a portion of the touch screen108, i.e., the first signal, can be generated in different ways otherthan by a user touching the touch screen 108, for instance, by a directuser input to the device 100 via a button, or via a wireless signal.FIG. 10 describes a generic process for deactivating a portion of thetouch screen 108. In step 601, the processor module 201 determines thata deactivation signal, i.e. the first signal, has been received. In step603, the processor module 201 controls the touch screen 108 todeactivate a portion of the screen. In step 605, the processor module201 positions the deactivated portion 110 according to a predeterminedposition that usually at a edge 104 of the touch screen 108 for thethumb 11 to rest on. It is also possible that the deactivated portion110 also covers a point of the touch, e.g. the point of the touch 114 inFIG. 3 that generated the first signal. After the deactivated portion110 has been rendered and positioned, and when the touch has gone, asdetected by the signal receiving module 203, in step 607, and theprocessor module 201 will calculate the duration of the non-touching.If, in step 607, the duration of the non-touching equals or exceeds athreshold, e.g., the second period 2052, in other words, the user may nolonger need the deactivated portion 110, the processor module will, instep 609, control the touch screen to stop displaying the deactivatedportion 110.

Once the deactivated portion 110 has been rendered on the touch screen108, it can be pressed by the thumb 11, meanwhile, the user can stilloperate icons 106 on the touch screen or other links 116. As shown inFIG. 11, touch signals can be received by the processor module 210 fromthe deactivated portion 110 as in step 701, and meanwhile, from otherportions of the touch screen in step 703, as indicated by the timeline705. In step 707, the processor module 210 will treat the touch signalfrom the deactivated portion 110 by pressing as indication that thedeactivated portion is still in use, and in step 709, processes thetouch signal from the other portions as conventional touch signals andresponds to the touch signal by performing corresponding functions, suchthat the device 100 can be held firmly by the thumb resting on thedeactivated portion 110, and at the same time the icons 106 or any links116 on the touch screen 108 can be operated normally.

In yet another exemplary situation as described in FIG. 12, after thedeactivated portion 110 or the cloned portion 110′ has been rendered onthe touch screen 108, the processor module 210 receives a touch signalfrom the touch screen 108 in step 801. The processor module 210determines, in step 803, whether the touch signal is from thedeactivated portion 110 or not. If the touch signal is from a portion ofthe touch screen 108 other than the deactivated portion 110 or thecloned portion 110′, the touch signal will be processed and responded tonormally and corresponding functions will be performed. However, if thetouch signal is from the deactivated portion 110, or the cloned portion110′, the processor module will treat the touch signal as an indicationthat the deactivated portion 110 or the cloned portion 110′ is still inuse in step 805. In step 809, when the deactivated portion 110 or 110′has no longer been touched or pressed for the predetermined second timeperiod 2052, the processor module 210 will control the touch screen 108to cancel the deactivated portion 110 or the cloned portion 110′.Alternatively, if any one of the deactivated portion 110 or the clonedportion 110′ is still in use, all the deactivated portions 110 and 110′will be kept on the touch screen 108, and only when all of the all thedeactivated portions 110 and 110′ have not been used for the second timeperiod 2052 or more, the deactivated portions 110 and 110′ will becancelled.

While the invention has been described in terms of several exemplaryembodiments, those skilled on the art will recognize that the inventioncan be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of theappended claims. In addition, it is noted that, the Applicant's intentis to encompass equivalents of all claim elements, even if amended laterduring prosecution.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for creating a touch screen interfacefor a touch screen of a touch screen device, comprising: creating afirst deactivated portion on the touch screen and positioning the firstdeactivated portion on a left edge of the touch screen; and creating asecond deactivated portion on the touch screen and positioning thesecond deactivated portion on a right edge of the touch screen.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: storing a position parameter,wherein the positions of the first and the second deactivated portionsare determined by the position parameter.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the first and the second deactivated portions are of same shapeand same sizes.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and thesecond deactivated portions are of same color and same opacity.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: creating a third deactivatedportion upon a condition that a combination of a sliding touch beingperformed on one of the first or second deactivated portion and aconcurrent pressing and holding touch being performed on the onedeactivated portion is recognized as a signal for creating the thirddeactivated portion, wherein the one deactivated portion remains at thesame position, thus the third deactivated portion and the onedeactivated portion co-exist, and third deactivated portion has a samesize, a same shape, a same color and same opacity as the one deactivatedportion.
 6. The method of claim 5, the step of creating the thirddeactivated portion comprising: moving the third deactivated portionalong a trace of the sliding touch such that the third deactivatedportion is separate from the one deactivated portion.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: cancelling one of the first or the seconddeactivated portion upon a condition that the one deactivated portionhas not been touched for a predetermined period of time.
 8. A device,comprising: a touch screen; a processor module comprising a processor,and controlling the touch screen; a non-transitory storage unit storinga trigger parameter and a position parameter; and wherein the processormodule deactivates a first portion of the touch screen and positions thefirst deactivated portion at a right position edge of the touch screen;and the processor module further deactivates a second portion of thetouch screen and positions the second deactivated portion at a leftposition edge of the touch screen.
 9. The device of claim 8, furthercomprising a storage storing a position parameter, wherein the positionsof the first and the second deactivated portions are determined by theposition parameter.
 10. The device of claim 8, wherein the first and thesecond deactivated portions are of same shape and same sizes.
 11. Thedevice of claim 8, wherein the first and the second deactivated portionsare of same color and same opacity.
 12. The device of claim 8, whereinthe processing module further creates a third deactivated portion upon acondition that a combination of a sliding touch being performed on oneof the first or second deactivated portion and a concurrent pressing andholding touch being performed on the one deactivated portion isrecognized by the processing module as a signal for creating the thirddeactivated portion, and the one deactivated portion remains at the sameposition, thus the third deactivated portion and the one deactivatedportion co-exist, and third deactivated portion has a same size, a sameshape, a same color and same opacity as the one deactivated portion. 13.The device of claim 12, wherein, during creating the third deactivatedportion, the processing module moves the third deactivated portion alonga trace of the sliding touch such that the third deactivated portion isseparate from the one deactivated portion.
 14. The device of claim 8,wherein the processing module cancels one of the first or the seconddeactivated portion upon a condition that the one deactivated portionhas not been touched for a predetermined period of time.